11 


mo 


Duke  University  uoranes 

Come  with  us. 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #696 


r\v, 


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#656 


IS( 
Richmond,  Va. 

COME  WITH  US. 


SOLDIERS'^TRACT  ASSOCIATION, r  1^0.  75. 


It  lias  often  been  remarked  by  pious  persons,  that  had 
they  been  invited,  they  should  have  joined  the  Church 
long  before  they  did.  Perhaps  you  have  made  the  same 
observation,  and  yet  remain  at?i  distance  from  the  follow- 
ers of  Christ. 

•To  prove  the  necessity  of  this  union,  I  need  only  refer 
you  to  the  history  of  the  Church  of  God  in  every  age.  Is 
it  a  fact  that  God  has  always  had  a  people?  And  is  it 
true,  that  this  people  have  always  been  distinguished  from 
the  world  around  them  by-certain  peculiar  features  in  their 
character  and  conduct  1  And  did  all  the  wise  and  good  in 
every  age  belong  to  this  clasj  of  persons?'  And,  more 
than  this,  did  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  act 
upon  the  same  pTinciples,  and  join  together  in  one  body 
those  who  believed  and  obeyed  the  jfospel?  If  so,  then 
what  have  you  or  I  to  say  against  such  an  institution? 
Are  we  wiser  and  holier  than  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abra- 
ham, and  many  others  who  belonged  to  the  patriarchal 
Church?  Do  we  understand  the  necessities  of  man's  con- 
dition better  than  Moses  and  the  prophets^  or  have  we 
more  authority  than  Jesus  Christ?  If  we  find  it  difficult 
to  answer  these  questions,  then  let  us  own  the  force  of 
truth:  let  us  confess  the  divine  authority  and  perpetual 
obligation  of  Christian  communion,  and  "come  out  from 
the  ungodly,  and  be  separate,  and  touch  not  the  unclean 
thing."     2  Corr  vi.  17. 

But  one  <^  the  principal  reasons  why  we  wish  you  to 
turn  your  attention  to  this  subject,  arises  from  the  useful- 
ness of  Christian  communion.  You  must  allow  that  it  is 
a  good  thing  to  enjoy  the  favor  of  God.  Let  me  assure 
you  that  it  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  your  neglect  of  a 
closer  union  with  his  Church  may  be  one  reason  why  the 
light  of  his  countenance  has  not  shone  upon  you.  You 
have  sought  him,  perhaps,  ,in  the  closet,  and  have  not 
found  him.  He  has  had  something  against  you.  You 
h^-e  neglected  his  institution.  You  have  been  identified 
1 


2  Come  icith  us. 

vj'iUx  the  world,  and  have  not  honored  him  by  a  bOld  and 
decided  separation.  Look  at  that  passage,  a  part  of  which 
we  have  quoted.  He  says,  first,  "Be  ye  separate;"  »nd 
then,  <•!  will  receive  you,  and  will  be  a  Father  unto  you, 
and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daui^hters,  sailh  the  Lord  Al- 
mighty." You  reverse  this  order.  You  expect  him  to 
receive  you  first,  and  then  you  will  separate  yourselves. 
JN'o  wonder  that  you  are  disappointed.  You  and  God  are 
directly  at  issue.  Be  not  deceived:  he  will  not  alter  his 
word  to  please  the  taste  of  any  man. 

Observe,  too,  that  if  you  thus  separate  yourselves,  an<l 
go  among  the  people  of  God,  you  will  become  the  pecu- 
liar objects  of  pastoral  care.  God's  ministers  will  watch 
over  you  as  fathers  over  their  children,  and  will  Iced  you 
as  shepherds  their  sheep.  The  members  of  the  Church 
will  treat  you  with  brotherly  affection.  They  will  coun- 
sel you  in  difficulty,  comfort  you  in  distress,  edify  you  by 
relations  of  their  experience,  sympathize  with  you  in 
trouble,  bear  all  your  burdens,  and  kneel  by  you  in  your 
last  moments,  to  commend  your  soul  lo  God.  Is  it  nothing 
to  be  thus  associated  with  the  excellent  of  the  earth  ? 
Is  it  no  privilege  to  meet  them  in  holjibrolherhood  ar.ound 
the  table  of  the  Lord?  Where  else  will  you  find  such 
society,  such  enjoyments?  Travel  the  world  over,  make 
the  search,  and  you  will  return  full  of  vexation  and  dis- 
appointment, wondering  at  your  own  fully.  You  will 
come  back  prepared  and  eau'er  to  acknowledge,  that  con- 
tent and  satisfacrton  can  alone  be  obtained  in  the  peaceful 
habitation  of  the  Church,  and  in  a  well-principled  and 
'affectionate  union  with  the  followers  of  Christ.  "Happy 
art  thou,  O  Israel:  who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  people  saved 
by  the  Lord  ?"     Deut.  xxxiii.  29. 

A  connection  of  this  kind  would  be  a  great  blessing  to 
you  in  the  way  of  restraint  from  evil,  and  as  aflbrdini::  you 
opportunities  of  exercising  your  talents  for  usefulness. 
You  would  thereby,  also,  i)articipate  in  those  special  visits 
of  mercy  which  Christ  makes  to  his  disciples,  when  they 
are  assembled  in  "  his  name."  How  often  does  be  now 
come  into  the  midst  of  them  and  say,  "Peace  be  unto 
you,"  and  breathe  upon  them  the  Holy. Ghost!  John  xx. 
21,  22.     If  you  are  absent,  like  Thomas,  you  may  exp^t 


Come  with  us.  3 

not  oftly  to  lose  the  blessing  of  your  Saviour,  but  to  re- 
main in  a  state  of  deplorable  unbelief. 

And  now  "how  long  half  ye  between  two  opinions? 
If  the  Lord  be  God,  follow  him."  1  Kings  xviii.  21.  Aa 
undecided  i-tale  i-;  an  uncomfortable  state.  You  cannot 
serve  two  masters ;  and  you  often  feel  that  you  cannot. 
'J  he  struirgle  which  goes  on  in  your  breast  is  an  evidence 
to  you  that  you  are  attempting  an  impossibility,  he- 
nouhce  at  <  nee  the  service  of  sin.  Come  forih  boldly  on 
the  "Lords  side;"  and  this  one  step  will  gJ"eatly  relieve 
your  mindj  and  prepare  it  to  receive  the  blessings  of  the 
gospel. 

Perhaps  you  say  that  wu  are  not  fit  to  join  the  Chr"s- 
tian  Church.  Where  do  you  expect  to  get  bet  er?.  Im 
the  world?  In  communion  with  sinners?  In  neglect  of 
God's  commandments  and  institutions?  Most  preposter- 
ous! Instead  of  becoming  better,  you  are  getting  worse 
«very  day.  The  habit  of  delay  is  becoming  permanent; 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  grieved  ;  and,  by  and  by,  you  will  have 
lost  your  good  impressions  altogether.  But  what  fitness 
does  God  require  of  you?  It  is  certain  you  cannot  be 
anything  else  than  a  sinner.  If  Jesus  Christ  will  not  re- 
fuse o  receive  you  because  you  are  a  sinner,  neither  will 
the  (  hristian  Church.  Do  you  feel  that  you  are  a  sinner? 
Do  you  hate  sin?  Have  you  forsaken  it?  Do  you  wish 
to  be  delivered  from  it?  Then,  "thou  art  the  man." 
You  are  as  fit  as  ever  you  will  be  until  you  come  to  Christ. 
And  one  of  the  best  means  of  conducting  you  to  the  Sa- 
viour is  converse  with  Christian  people.  You  are  j^st 
the  person  whom  the  ministers  and  leade.s  of  the  Church 
ivould  delight  to  instruct. 

Do  not  say  that  you  must  first  settle  this  point  of  secu- 
lar business,  or  consult  thai  worldly  relative.  Do  not  tell 
us  that  you  must  wait  until  some  change  shall  occur  in 
your  earthly  employment  or  circumstances,  or  until  some 
mightier  impulse  of  the  Holy  Spirit  constrain  you  to  the 
act.  My  dear  friend,  this  is  not  a  matter  to  be  trifled 
with  Your  soul  is  concerned  in  it.  You  do  not  suppose 
that  we  should  have  addressed  you  about  Church  commu- 
nion, did  we  not  suppose  that  your  eternal  interests  were 
nearly  related  to  the  question.     Not,  it  is  true,  to  the 


4  Come  with  us. 

question  whether  you  belong  to  this  or  that  Christian 
Chiuxh;  but  to  the  question,  whether  you  have  forsaken 
the  world,  taken  up  the  cross,  ami  followed  Christ,  or 
whether  you  are  now  mixed  up  with  the  mass  of  the  un- 
godly, and  therefore  living  apart  from  Christ's  disciples, 
of  whom  he  says,  '-Ye  are  not  of  t'le  world."  John  xv. 
19.  Do  not  evade  this  inquiry.  All  that  we  seek  is  your 
sahTition.  Determine  to  arrive  at  the  truth,  though  it 
may  be  painful,  and  you  will  be  well  repaid.  0  remem- 
ber, I  beseech  you,  that  the  "friendsliip  of  the  world  is 
enmity  with  God:  whosoever,  therefore,  will  be  a  friend 
of  the  world  is  the  enemy  of  God."  James  iv.  4.  "If 
any  man  love  the  world,  the  Iqv^  of  the  Father  is  not  in 
him."  1  John  ii.  15.  You  are  not  actuated,  I  hope,  by 
the  fear  of  man.  Hemember,  "the  fear  of  man  bringeth 
a  snare" — Prov.  xxix.  25— a  dreadful  snare — a  snare 
which  entanglcth  the  soul,  and  holds  it  in  the  bondage  of 
sin  and  death.  Be  not  afraid  of  human  reproach,  or  dis- 
pleasure, or  shame;  but  "fear  Him  who,  after  he  hath" 
killed,  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell."     Luke  xii.  5. 

If  you  remain  distinct  from  Christ's  followers,  and  do 
nothing  by  open  confession  and  manly  exertion,  to  spread 
the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  world,  will  it  not  be  to  you,  in 
old  age,  and  on  your  deatli-bed,  a  source  of  deep  regret 
and  unavailing  sorrow?  Will  you  not  be  ready  to  say, 
"  O  fool  that  I  was,  to  take  up  with  silly  excuses  and  weak 
pretences,  so  as  to  prefer  the  smile  of  the  world  to  thgt 
of  God!  ()  wretched  man!  I  have  lost  a  life;  I  have 
doae  nothing  for  the  benefit  of  souls;  I  stood  aloof  when 
I  ought  .to  have  come  up  to  the  'help  of  the  Lord  a!?ainst- 
thc  mighty.^'  O  inflxtuated  sinner!  I  now  desire  to  go 
among  the 'blest  in  heaven;  but  1  have  shunned  commu- 
nion with  them  on  earth."  • 

My  dear  friends,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  be  filled  with  such 
anxieties  when  you  are  about  to  enter  the  presence  of  God, 
then  fling  away  every  remaining  objection:  go  upon  your 
knees,  and  acknowledge  your  past  neglects:  choose  a> 
once  the  society  of  the  pious:  accept  the  invitation  which 
we  now  give  you,  and  say  with  those  of  whom  Zechariah 
prophesied,  "  We  will  go  with  you,  for  we  have  heard 
that  God  is  with  you."     viii.  23. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
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